Good morning all:

Weekly celebration quote:

“If you’ve heard this story before, don’t stop me, because I’d like to hear it again.” ~ Anonymous

Happy Passover (belatedly) and Easter. Both are old stories, but, both brimming with new meaning, new insights, and new hope; year after year. Wow, that’s pretty good stuff. I think I’ll refill my mug of coffee on that up-note.

I believe it was Steinbeck who wrote; “Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.” Well, I slept in this morning and, and this doesn’t happen often, I had no idea where to begin, go, or end with this post. My mind was a blank. Even my coffee with a banana power duo wasn’t much of an aid.

Red’s opening day game – came and went. Many of you have been burdened by the way too many photographs I pushed around (sorry about that). I love all the hoopla, the people, and the atmosphere. The parade, and the sight of people coming together, especially in light of the events in Florida. It also meant that I walked and stood for nearly five hours. Actually, walked would have been one thing. It was what I refer to as the “museum shuffle”, creeping and bumping through the crowd that is the killer.

The bottom line being that I did pay a bit of a penalty as far as my energy reserves go.

House maintenance – My energy depletion did lead me to a problem. We have a small section of gutter along the side of the house from the kitchen door back. Leaves had it clogged it and after every rain water would cascade onto the deck—and continue to do so well after the rains had stopped.

Yesterday was a day without rain, my April article had been sent to the publisher, and I saw that spark of a moment. The long ladder was hauled up on the deck and extended to about 20’. Being a safety conscious doobey I used a tie-down strap to ratchet the thing solidly to the deck rail, then went to test it by climbing six feet or so. That’s when I realized that it’s quite unnerving to climb a ladder parked only a few degrees off vertical; especially with my weight and my nimbleness. In fact, though normally not bothered by heights, I found myself climbing the thing as if I were velcroed to it. Small adjust of the whole contraption. A re-test, and that is when I recognized that my body was a bit more tired than I wanted to realize.

I threw in the towel.

Twenty minutes later Tevita showed up. Whoosh, and he was to the top. Seconds later I heard water rumbling in the downspout. One more trip up to set in a leaf-stop system. Twenty minutes later all was complete.

Recognizing when you need to ask is a good thing. Having family willing to help is an even better thing. Thanks Tevita.

Tevita – mentioning Tevita, recently he’s been working throughout the State. This past week he was setting up a solar system at a small park center building south of the Canton area near a small town of just 350 people, and in the middle of Amish country.

It’s fun to see, that even after being in the USA for several years, he’s still discovering new things. This week it was Amish food. He raved about it.

Animal planet. Tuesday evening at dusk I went out for my evening walk. About a mile from home a deer crossed the residential street I was walking on, ran between two houses, stopped, turned, and then started to slowly walk towards me. Maybe twenty feet away it stopped and just stood there and looked. This was too good an opportunity. Slowly I reached for my phone, opened the camera, and snapped the perfect shot.

The remainder of my walk found me with just a little extra zip in my walk. Eric Clapton on the iPod also helped.

Closing – The grandkids have all started their Spring sports activities. Derek playing basketball. Kellen enjoying T-ball and the catcher’s position. Marin is back into his favorite sport of soccer. Last Sunday I saw his first game of the season and him scoring. And, Vai is riding a two-wheeler with training wheels (purchased with her own savings).

It doesn’t take much to have the days of winter induced cabin fever fade into history.

Make it a great week everyone and stay safe.
Cheers,
Dirk